Love and Other Monks

The small boys came early to the hanging.

What a brilliant first line. When I found out that the prompt for the 5th of January was to pick your favourite book, take the first sentence and make it the first sentence of your post I knew exactly which book to pick. It was sitting in arms reach from my position in bed and although it's my favourite book I couldn't remember what the first line was. I remember how much I loved it, how much I relished every word, how I couldn't wait until bedtime to read it, how I hated certain characters with such venom. When I opened the book and read the first line all I wanted to do was carry on reading.

The Pillars Of The Earth is epic. That's probably the only way to describe it. It spans half a century and is filled with rich, interesting characters. We follow Tom Builder and his family as they arrive at Kingsbridge, desperate for work in order to survive. His story is intertwined with the Royals of the 12th Century, an orphaned girl Aliena and her brother Richard, Bishop Waleran and the monks of Kingsbridge and the horrific Hamleighs. And while all of this is happening, a cathedral is being erected. I've never read a book that is this grand, that is on this scale, that covers so many events and so much time and yet you still feel close to the characters, still feel like you know them, like they are a part of you.
I'm not normally a fan of historic fiction, it's not something I ordinarily go for, but I love the history. Ken Follett has obviously done his research because every detail is described, and he translates it so beautifully it's etched into my mind. If I closed my eyes now I can still see Jack Jackson's red hair and his beautiful sculptures, I can still see fire rage through Kingsbridge and I read it over two years ago.

In this post I was supposed to talk about the first sentence, and draw from there. But I figured a post about how much I adore the book, rather than the prescence of small children at executions would be much better to write, if not as interesting.
To read my review of The Pillars Of The Earth click here.